1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to methods and apparatuses for providing contents via a network, and more particularly, to methods and apparatuses for providing contents via a network, in which original data of the contents may be provided via the network for use. The present invention further relates to a method and apparatus for efficiently backing up data to a plurality of storage devices connected via a network, a backup data providing device, and a backup system.
2. Description of the Related Art
The term “contents” generally refers to various data such as characters, symbols, voice, images, or videos used via wired or wireless networks. Due to the development of information technology such as that provided by the Internet, digital cameras, and mobile phones, meaningful information has been made available much quicker than conventional media, and people are able to share their own contents with other users via communication networks.
Contents may be shared by users who are interconnected via networks by using various methods, for example, via a webpage, a blog or a webzine in a notice board format. In general, contents represented on a webpage are transcoded or resized to a suitable format for the webpage and provided to other users via a network. For example, when a user presents his/her photographs through a blog, the user edits the photographs by reducing a size or capacity of the original photographs so as to upload them on the blog.
However, according to conventional methods, contents provided via a network might be different from the original contents, and those wanting to use original contents may have difficulty in using the original contents.
Recently, various content receiving devices have become available which include Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), smartphones, Portable Multimedia Players (PMP), netbooks, and the like. Since these content receiving devices operate differently due to differences in resolution or available codecs, the performance of the devices needs to be considered when providing contents to the various types of content receiving devices.
Recently, with increasing demands for better hardware performance and higher quality data, various types of devices, including cameras, camcorders, PCs, netbooks, smartphones, and PVRs (Personal Video Recorders) are now able to process larger sized data. Though the advance in memory technology has increased the storage capacities of such devices, the size of moving picture data or audio data is still high in consideration of the limited data storage capacity of the devices.